The State Board of Medicine: Which professions does it oversee?

On behalf of Brian Quinn of The Law Offices of Brian E. Quinn posted in Medical Licensing on Thursday, December 17, 2015.

As a licensed health care professional, you may not have had much reason to think before about the authority of your profession's governing body. You worked hard to get your license and that was enough.

Things can change quickly, however, when your license is called into question. You may have run into criminal charges or concerns about substance abuse. Or a patient may have filed a complaint against you, questioning your competence or your conduct.

When this happens, the regulatory board that granted your license may seek to revoke or suspend it. And it becomes important to know more about the board or agency that you are up against. In this post, we will look specifically at the State Board of Medicine.

In Pennsylvania, the State Board of Medicine is one of 29 professional and occupational licensing boards and commissions that receive administrative support from the Department of State (DOS). More specifically, these boards and commission receive such support from the Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs within the DOS.

The State Board of Medicine does not regulate all medical practitioners. Nurses have a separate licensing board called the State Board of Nursing. But the Board of Medicine does oversee the licensing of many other types of practitioners besides doctors.

The list of the various types of practitioners is rather long. It includes professionals associated with traditional medicine, such as physician assistants and radiology technicians. But it also includes professionals from certain alternative medicine specialties, such as acupuncturists and oriental medicine practitioners.

The Board of Medicine's authority also extends to the regulation of nurse-midwives and even athletic trainers.

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